


Sometime Around Midnight

by AugustClown



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 21:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14941358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustClown/pseuds/AugustClown
Summary: Most of Ciri and Cerys' meetings are around midnight. Cerys finds herself uncaring about being bothered at such a late time.





	Sometime Around Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of clarity and to give some background, I want to say that for Ciri’s birth year, I am going with the year 1251 which is mentioned in The Witcher 3, although it has been also been disputed between 1252 and 1253 with the books. Hjalmar was born in 1248. I don’t know when Cerys was born, but I will say 1253. Ciri and Cerys’ first reunion takes place in 1273, a year after the events of The Witcher 3. Beyond things that occurred or were mentioned in the game, just about everything else is not canon.
> 
> Title taken from a song of the same name by the Airborne Toxic Event.

The first time Ciri appears in her room, materializing from thin air, Cerys barely maintains the dignity to not yell at the sight. She had just finished getting dressed for the day, so she had her sword on hand, pointing the blade at Ciri’s throat. She didn’t recognize her childhood friend at first. How could she? It had been ten years. The last time they had seen each other, Ciri had just turned 12 and was very much in love with her brother Hjalmar, a striking lad at 15, and had thus not paid the young sparrowhark much attention. It wasn’t long after that that Ciri had been taken away, and neither of the siblings had seen the girl since. But those eyes were something she would never forget. Indeed, her 10 year old self was very much in love with Ciri (but she would never admit it out loud thank you very much) and would recognize those dazzling emerald eyes from across a room. Cerys sheathes her sword and takes a few steps back.

“Aye, ye gave me a scare, swallow. What are ye doing here? Did ya mean to appear in me brother’s room? How did ya even do that?” 

Ciri wastes no time in explaining her abilities as quickly as possible before getting to the point. Of course, Cerys being Cerys, stayed quiet throughout the whole thing. She’d get a chance to ask her questions about those powers eventually.

“And, no, actually. I came to see you, your Majesty. I wanted to congratulate you on being queen. You always were a feisty child. It was thus no surprise to me when Geralt told me of your rise as queen.”

“I’m surprised ye noticed. Ye were quite in love with me brother.”

Ciri smiles, “Hjalmar was...the product of young love. But, as I’ve grown older my...preferences have changed.”

“Aye, I can imagine what ye mean. Is congratulating me all ye came for? Or, did ye want something more?” Cerys saunters closer to Ciri, a smirk firmly in place.

Cerys was never shy when it came to relationships, whether purely physical or more intimate. She knew she was a beautiful woman; she had endured the enamours of both young men and women in her days. And as queen, she had been known to take her fair share of lovers now and then.

“Oh!” Ciri looks surprised. Admittedly, she hadn’t expected this reaction from Cerys. Yes, her old friend had grown to become a beautiful woman, but when she told Cerys of her preferences, it was merely to assure the other woman that she no longer held feelings for Hjalmar. Those days had long past.

Ciri continues, “Your Majesty, any other day I would take you up on this offer, but I cannot stay long. I’ve actually taken up a contract in Novigrad and I only appeared here because...well I’m actually not sure why I decided to come now. I guess I just felt like it was long overdue to thank you for your forces' help in the battle.”

It had been a year since the defeat of the Wild Hunt, and Ciri had managed to discreetly thank everyone who had helped her without alerting her father that she was in fact alive. Everyone except for Cerys. Though Cerys did not directly fight in the battle, her father died and Hjalmar was a big help in leading the rest of the Skellige forces. Ciri figured she had some downtime in between chasing leads on the monster in the contract, so she decided to teleport to Ard Skellig. Besides, even when they were kids, there was something about Cerys that drew her in. She had yet to figure it out, but maybe someday she would.

“I understand swallow. And it was no problem. I wish ye luck on the Path,” Cerys moves toward the door.

“Wait,” Ciri says, “In two weeks from today, meet me out on the harbor after midnight. It has been a while since we’ve had a true talk. It would be nice to hear what you’ve been up to all these years.”

Cerys nods. And with that, Ciri vanishes, and Cerys leaves to go about her day as Queen of the Skellige Isles.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two weeks later, Cerys finds herself out on the docks shortly before midnight. She told the guards patrolling to leave a section of the docks unguarded. Of course, this was faced with protest, but the Queen had her ways, and she managed to get her guards to stand down. She is the Queen, but moreover, she is of an Craite; she can protect herself.

This time, Ciri must’ve chosen to teleport a bit away from the docks, because Cerys sees the other woman approaching from the hills behind the docks. When Ciri reaches her, Cerys nods.

“Well, I suppose you have some questions about my powers, huh?”

She just goes straight to the point, Cerys thinks.

“Yes, actually. I believe you can teleport. But through time and space? And different worlds? Really?”

Ciri sighs, knowing that the girl isn’t so much doubting her words so much as trying to understand the full extent of her powers. Cerys wasn’t the first person to do so, and Ciri knew she might not be the last.

Cerys notices of course and speaks up, “Forgive me. I didn't mean to come off as if greedy to know of yer powers, swallow. I just wanted to know how that was possible.”

“It’s my blood. Literally. Elder blood causes those powers. I am a carrier of Elder blood. It was why the Wild Hunt was after me. They wanted to use me for my power. Elder blood can destroy worlds. From what I know, I am the last carrier of Elder blood. So yes, the magic in my blood can cause me to teleport throughout time and space, to many worlds, whether they are current or past or in the future.”

Cerys turns away from the other girl and looks towards the water, taking it all in. She knew there had to be a reason why she and her brother hadn’t seen Ciri in years; her father must’ve thought that it would only be a matter of time before Skelligers caught on to the true nature of her blood.

“Aye, I see now. Thank ye for trusting me with this.”

“Of course, Cerys, you’re an old friend. Now, tell me what you’ve been up to these last 10 years,” Ciri smiles.

And so, Cerys fills her in on the events of the last 10 years. How Hjalmar was heartbroken when Ciri left, but excited to see her again during the battles. How she wished she had been there, too. How Geralt helped her become queen and how he never made her feel like she couldn’t do the job because she was a woman. She spoke of training with her father and how much she missed him still. Ciri filled her in on her side of the battle.

The two spent hours talking about everything and nothing at all. They had moved to sit on the docks somewhere during their conversation. It wasn’t long before they saw the sun starting to rise.

“Forgive me, your Majesty. I did not mean to keep you out for so long. You haven’t even gotten any rest! I’m so sorry!”

“Calm yourself, lass. It’s alright. I have enjoyed talking to ye. I assume ye must go now?”

Because of course, Cerys is yet again going to not have the opportunity to be more intimate with the woman sitting next to her. They were so caught up in their conversation that Cerys never even thought about making a move on her. A shame, really. Ciri was always pretty, but now, with the early morning sun shining on her, highlighting her kohl-rimmed emerald eyes, Ciri looked absolutely stunning.

“Yes, unfortunately I must go. My Path is still in Novigrad. They’ve had a ton of contracts come through lately.”

“So I see if I want ye to stay here for awhile, I should gather up some contracts,” Cerys jokes.

Ciri laughs, “Yes, that is one way to get my attention I suppose.”

Cerys sighs, “It was nice seeing you again Ciri. Good luck on the Path.”

The two women hug. Cerys watches Ciri climb up back over the hill. Once she disappears from her sight, Cerys turns and starts heading back to her palace.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is six months before the two women see each other again. Ironically enough, it was indeed an influx of contracts that brought Ciri to Skellige. She was in Kovir visiting Triss and Geralt when she heard of the recent troubles the Isles were having with monsters. Some of Cerys’ best men died while fighting the beast, and it seemed that only a Witcher’s silver blade could really do the trick.

Cerys is in bed reading a book when Ciri teleports into her room. She sighs. It is nearing midnight and she had hoped to go to sleep soon.

“Aye, swallow. It is late. Can’t we talk about this in the morning?”

Ciri laughs, “Of course. I just came here now in hopes of a sleepover.”

“A sleepover? We haven’t had one since we were young lasses.”

Ciri smiles, “Well yes, I know. And I had to leave too early during the last one if you recall. So, why not make up for it now?”

This time, it is Cerys who laughs, “And what would ye have us do, swallow?”

“We could just talk? It is getting late and I’m not quite sure what else we could do. Braid each other’s hair?”

“Aye, lass, you’re not touching my hair.”

Ciri laughs again and settles next to Cerys on her bed, “Fair enough. How have you been these last few months.”

“Alright until recently. I assume yer here to take up the loads of contracts on the monsters ravaging my Isles?”

“Yes. I heard you have held onto all of them, so I figured we could go over them individually in the morning. I must tell you, if the rumors are true, I could be here for months. I hope you won’t grow tired of my company.”

“Never, swallow. Never”  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cerys wakes up first and she notices a weight against her back and an arm around her waist. She smiles. This is what she had dreamed of for years, even during Ciri’s absence. When Hjalmar told her that Ciri had survived the battles, her feelings for the swallow once again reached a peak. Up until their first reunion, she hadn’t dared hope that Ciri would even feel the same way; she had loved her brother as children after all. But, when Ciri revealed her preferences, Cerys swore to herself that she would finally get the other woman to be hers. She deserved happiness, she decided, and she wanted that happiness with Ciri.

She turns and faces the other girl, noticing how peaceful she seems during sleep. The scar on her left cheek is mostly hidden by the pillow and she looks much like the young girl Cerys knew as a kid.

A few minutes later Ciri opens her eyes and smiles sleepily at Cerys.

“Were you watching me sleep? That’s creepy, sparrowhark.”

Cerys doesn’t even attempt to deny it, “Well, what can I say, swallow. Yer quite the sight to behold.”

Ciri outright giggles and Cerys promises that she will make Ciri make that wonderful noise again and again.

“I’m sure I look terrible. I’m sure my makeup is smudged all over my cheeks.”

“Aye, it is. But it makes ye look badass.’

This time, Ciri straight up laughs, “Cerys, I am badass.” 

Cerys rolls her eyes, “Sure ye are.”

Ciri scoffs, “I am! I stopped the White Frost!”

“Ye did, sparrow, and I am forever grateful for it.”

“Well, that didn’t stop all the problems. Let’s discuss these monsters roaming the Isles.”

The two ladies get out of bed and start getting ready for the day. Cerys fills Ciri in on the monsters and how many men she’s lost. They determine she will start with the Isles most heavily populated and then try to determine the source of the monster nest.

“So, here are the first contracts you should start with. There have been sights of water hags on the surrounding isles to the east. Fortunately, nothing has appeared here on Ard Skellig, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“Alright, I’ll go talk to the writers of this contract and journey to the western isles after to see if I can get any leads on if there are monsters there. It...might take me a few weeks to clear out all of the monsters on these isles. I shall return to you with news when I’m done.”

Cerys unfastens a pin from her shirt and hands it over to Ciri. Ciri notices it holds the crest of an Craite and has Cerys’ initials on it.

“Here take this. It’ll guarantee you have a place to stay for free throughout your travels. I will pay for your reward directly once you get back, and you will get more than what is written on the contracts since I’m Queen and am asking you directly.”

“Thank you, sparrowhark. I will see you when I’m done.”  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is nearly a month before Ciri returns. She teleports into Cerys’ room, again close to midnight (Cerys thinks midnight must be their new meeting time for everything), looking worse for wear.

“By Freya, swallow! Yer completely bruised.”

Ciri just smirks, “The water hags put up quite the fight. But, I defeated them, of course.”

“Goodness. Let me get ye some ice first.”

“I'm fine, I promise. I have something I want to discuss with you.”

“Alright. What is it ye wanted to talk about.”

“It seems as if there might be two monster nests. I journeyed to the western Isles and there were some water hags there as well. But, there were mostly sirens, drowners, and a griffin. I cleared out the most heavily populated Isles, but it seems that the monster nest in the west is more dangerous than the one on the east. I know the west is not as heavily populated as the east, so it is your call as to which one I should go after first.”

Cerys thinks on this. It had been relatively quiet in the west since not many people lived there, but there were more dangerous monsters. On the other hand, the east was more populated.

“How far out were you from Ard Skellig on the west? And how many monsters were there?”

“There were so many. Most of my injuries came from those monsters. As for distance, I was at the Pali Gap Coast. I’ve put off a hold on most of the monsters, but as I do not know how far the nest is, I cannot determine how fast they’re moving towards Ard Skellig.”

Cerys continues to contemplate her decision. Some of her top men had died fighting the beasts on the east; there was no way they could take on the monsters in the west without silver. She decided that she could send more men to the east to keep an eye on things until Ciri figured out the true nature of the threat in the west.

Cerys speaks, “Tomorrow afternoon, go scope out the western Isles again. Determine the source of the monster nest, but do not fight it. I just want to know where they are. Then, go back to the Pali Gap Coast and see if more monsters are there. That’ll determine how fast they are moving. For now, stay here and rest. You surely need it.”

Ciri doesn’t argue with that. She quickly shed her armor and got into Cerys’ bed. Cerys chuckles at her speed and blows out the candles before lying in bed next to Ciri. She hoped that the ashen-haired woman would remain safe tomorrow.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ciri leaves shortly after lunch and doesn’t return until midnight. Once again, she appears in Cerys’ room.

“Swallow! Where have ye been? This shouldn’t have taken more than a few hours!” Cerys gets out of bed and stalks toward where Ciri is standing by the door.

“Queen Cerys, were you actually worried?” Ciri smirks.

Cerys ignores the question, “Is that a fresh tear in your shirt? Freya, were there monsters already on the Pali Gap Coast?”

Ciri looks away, “About that. No, there were not monsters on the Pali Gap Coast. But, I found the source of the nest, and it isn’t very far from there. The good news is that they aren’t moving fast. The bad news is, the monster nest is huge. I can take care of the nest in the east without any help, but I will need help in the west.”

“But without silver, how much can me men help?”

“Their steel swords can help much, but it is true that I will need to take out the bigger monsters. They can handle the smaller drowners.”

Cerys sighs, “Did ye try taking down the nest by yerself after I specifically told ye not to?”

“Yes! But only because it didn’t seem as large at first. I’m sorry, I thought I could do it.”

“Swallow, ye need to take care of yerself. I can’t have ye dying.”

Ciri nods and sighs, “I know, I know. You need be to kill all these monsters.” She looks away from Ciri

Cerys responds, “Aye, but more than that. I care for ye. And it would hurt me if something happened to ye.”

Ciri looks up at the genuine tone Cerys had spoken it. It was only then that Ciri noticed how truly beautiful her friend had grown to become. She grew out her long red hair and kept it braided almost all the time. Her eyes that were always alight with mischief had a touch of concern in them and some other emotion that Ciri couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Freya, she’s perfect, Ciri thinks. She takes a step closer and cups Cerys’ head with both of her hands. Cerys looks at her questioningly before noticing how Ciri’s emerald eyes were slightly darkened and focused on her lips.

“Oh,” is all Cerys says before Ciri closes the distance between their lips. And all Cerys can think about is how perfect this kiss is. How it’s better than any kiss with Ciri she ever imagined. How soft Ciri’s lips are as they move against hers in perfect harmony.

The kiss quickly heats up and Cerys turns them around before fisting the collar of Ciri’s shirt, walking her backwards, and shoving her against the door. Ciri smiles and laughs a bit before Cerys shuts her up with another kiss. Cerys manages to get her shirt off and for the rest of the night, Cerys shows Ciri how much she means to her, and Ciri responds by showing Cerys how much those feelings are reciprocated.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the morning, Ciri prepares to head to the east while Cerys makes plans to move more of her men to the west to monitor the Pali Gap Coast and the surrounding smaller isles. Ciri’s time in the east should only take her about a week, but after the night the two spent, Cerys didn’t want to spend even a day without her. But, she knew that Ciri had to take care of the monsters, and beyond that, she would have to go back to her Path one day. However, those were thoughts for another time. For now, she had to focus on ensuring that the two nests on her Isles get destroyed.

“Go see my armorer and blacksmith and make sure your blades and armor are repaired. Show them my pin, they can handle that for you for free.”

“You know your Majesty, I can afford to have my equipment repaired.”

Cerys sighs, “Please, just call me Cerys. And I know ye can afford it. I just want to handle this for ye and make sure ye have a good reward at the end. Ye didn’t have to come by and help us out. I appreciate it.”

Ciri finishes sheathing her swords and turns to face the red-headed woman, “Of course I did. It is my duty. Skellige is where my Path led me. Moreover, it led me to your bed.”

When Ciri waggles her eyebrows, Cerys just laughs and pulls the other woman into a kiss. The two get lost in it for awhile before a knock sounds on the door. They pull back with a sigh and Ciri pouts. Again, Cerys laughs at Ciri, loving how the pout makes the older woman look much like she did when she was 10 and Cerys was 8. Cerys bested Ciri at arm wrestling, and Ciri couldn’t believe that the young lass could beat her when she had just beaten Hjalmar in a duel. Cerys shakes her head, clearing her thoughts from the memory.

“Come, swallow. That is our clue to leave. And ye need to hurry off to the east so you can get back here quicker.”  
Ciri smirks, “Gonna miss me, Cerys?”

However, Cerys remains serious, “Of course.”

Ciri’s smirk softens to a smile at that, and with one last chaste kiss to her lips, Ciri heads out the door, Cerys right behind her.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cerys works out a plan to destroy the nest in the west. It takes her a few days, but she manages to get more men from the surrounding isles to help her. She places Hjalmar at the head of these forces; there was no one she trusted more to destroy the nest and protect Ciri, other than herself of course. But, as Queen, it was her duty to stay here and look over the other facets of the kingdom. On the fifth day, she sent her forces to go to the areas surrounding the nest with the orders to take out any stragglers but to wait until Ciri arrived. She had heard from Hjalmar that things were going well and they managed to stop the monsters from moving quickly. Now, she just had to wait for Ciri to return and have her teleport off to them. In the meantime, she works out some other issues, such as settling small squabbles between farmers and fishermen, rebuilding some of the areas destroyed by the Wild Hunt, and so on.

Two days later, and a week after Ciri first left, Ciri teleports into Cerys’ room shortly after midnight with a huge smile on her face. Of course, Cerys had heard by then of Ciri’s success. She had also heard how her top captains got the girl to go out drinking with them to celebrate.

Cerys puts down her book and laughs at the dopey look on Ciri’s face. There was no doubt that the older girl was drunk. She gets out of bed and walks over to the witcheress.

“My, my, sparrow. Someone had a nice night, didn’t ye?”

Ciri giggles and pulls Cerys close to her, smothering her face with kisses. 

“You’re so pretttyyyyyy. And you’re a queen. You’re a beautiful queen, did you know that Cerys?”

Cerys laughs, “And is pretty all ye noticed bout me?”

Ciri gasps, clearly offended, “No! You are also really smart. And a good fighter. And you are really, really good in bed. Let’s do that sex thing in bed right now.”

She starts fumbling getting her swords off her back and her clothes off, and Cerys laughs again. The other woman was absolutely adorable when drunk, but tomorrow she had to go and meet up with Hjalmar and the rest of the forces. So, it was better to make sure that the witcheress got a good night’s sleep, no matter how much she wouldn’t mind having her wicked way with her.

“The sex thing will have to wait ye drunk swallow. It is time I got ye to bed so ye can get a good night’s rest. Freya knows ye can’t be inebriated fighting the monster nest tomorrow.”

Much like the week before, Ciri pouts, “But I don’t wanna sleep. I just wanna loveeeeee you all night long.”

Cerys breath hitches in her throat at that before she quickly shakes off the feeling of a hand crushing her heart. Ciri is clearly drunk, she didn’t mean anything by love. There was no way Ciri could feel the same way as her. Not like that anyways.

Cerys safely gets Ciri undressed and into bed. She presses a kiss to her forehead before wrapping her arms around the witcheress. Tomorrow, she’ll have to let the woman go off to face even more danger. She wonders if there’ll ever be a time when she wouldn’t have to send the other woman off to face monsters, bandits, and the like.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Surprisingly enough, Ciri wakes up with no traces of the drunken state she was in the previous night. Cerys goes over the plan of attack with her. With the forces of the men, they would have to fight one section of the nest at a time, and even then, one section could take days to defeat. It would take a few weeks to handle and Cerys couldn’t help but feel worried for both Ciri and Hjalmar. She had already lost so many of her men and other loved ones. She couldn’t handle losing the only two people left in this world that meant something to her. Ciri, sensing the other woman’s worry, spends the rest of the morning distracting her from it, telling tales of her first days of training as a witcheress under Geralt’s guidance. The tales cheered up the Queen for a bit until it was time for Ciri to teleport over to the nest; they wanted to put in a good few hours of fighting in the light before night fell and became too dangerous to wander nest in. Ciri gives Cerys a goodbye kiss, and the other woman sighs, praying to Freya that both Ciri and Hjalmar returned safe to her.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It had been two and a half weeks, and the last Cerys had heard from her forces on the west was that the nest had almost been cleared, but one section had more monsters in it than previously thought, so it would take them a bit longer. But, that had been three days ago. She wondered if Ciri would travel back with the forces. Or, would Ciri teleport directly back here to deliver the news herself? Would she return at all? Cerys shook her head to clear herself of the thoughts. She knew both Ciri and Hjalmar were well. They could take care of themselves. It would do her no good to keep worrying like this. She sighed and went about her day, praying to Freya that they both would return to her soon.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
It was two more days before Ciri teleports into Cerys’ room, sometime around midnight. Cerys had just walked into the room herself and she wraps the other woman up in a hug as soon as she appears.

“So, I take it ye and me brother were successful,” Cerys says, still wrapped in the hug.

Ciri pulls back but keeps her arms around the younger woman’s waist, “Aye, we were. Hjlamar and the rest of the troops will be back in a few days. I couldn’t wait another minute to see you again.”

Cerys smiles, “I wouldn’t have been able to wait had I heard word you were successful. I’m glad you came and told me directly.”

She looks the wicheress up and down and takes in her new injuries. Most were covered by her armor, which Cerys made sure she took with her this time around (her armorer had not seen the swallow after she told her to go see him), but she could see a small scar forming on her right eyebrow. Other than that, Ciri just looked tired.

Cerys continues, “Come, let’s go to bed. You need some rest.”

Ciri chuckles, “I won’t argue with you there.”

Once they finish disrobing, they get into bed and Ciri wraps Cerys up in her arms. Cerys knows that Ciri will only be here for a few more days before she continues on her Path. But, she also knows that her heart belongs to the other woman. And no matter where Ciri is or how long she is away for, Cerys knows that she will always be waiting for the other woman sometime around midnight.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize if there are any spelling and/or grammatical errors. I do my best to check on my own, but often I miss things.
> 
> Come say hi to me on tumblr: @issuesofthesoul


End file.
